Time For Barack 2 Be BIG - This Primary Is Not Over

The election isn't over, taking Wisconsin doesn't mean he can win a big northeastern old Democratic state. Last night should be a helpful wakeup call that, logic be damned, Clinton isn't getting out of the race and her supporters are just as fired up as Obama's.  It's time to realize that capitulation isn't going to happen and figure out how to end this primary in a way that paves the road to victory in November.

First of all, we need to stop telling each other what we want to hear.  KOS isn't helping anyone by massaging the numbers until they're purple showing how each Clinton win is another brick in the road to eventual Obama victory.  Yes, Pennsylvania actually helped Barack get closer to his magic number and NO, super delegates are not going to swarm to Hillary but...

IS IT TIME FOR BARACK OBAMA TO PROVE HE IS A UNITER - YES

Believe me, while most of you were watching PA like a golf match on TV, the real citizens in Pennsyvania where more actively involved than in any general election in my memory. I worked the polls in PA for 10 hours and then had an election party with over a hundred rabid Obama and Clinton supporters.  This felt even bigger than the 2004 Kerry election.

Clinton supporters are every bit as bitter about how they've been demonized as Obama true believers feel slandered.   They see how their beloved Bill has been frameshopped into a dottering, bigoted buffoon and they hear all the states that have carried the water for the Democratic Party since the Civil Rights Act being dismissed because Barack is strong in dead Red states who's democratic registration can be counted on fingers.

Obama can't lose the primary, the math is with him but he CAN lose the general if he doesn't make peace with the active, mobilized and energized Clinton cadre.  

It's time for the Uniter to do some uniting... Obama needs to sit down with Hillary and ask her what she wants to settle this thing.  A nice house at the Naval Observatory?  FINE, MAKE IT HAPPEN!  

We can all be as arrogant as we want, Obama can't lose the primary but he cant' win the general without Hillary and her supporters.  Listen with your ears and hear what the real voters are saying:

WE WANT THEM BOTH ON THE TICKET!!
You may not, but you don't count anymore, Barack already has your vote.

•  Your premise is flawed

  It's not up to Obama, it's up to Clinton.  Obama has been making public gestures for party unity all along.  And if you think that Hillary will accept the VP slot or that Barack will offer it to her at this point, you haven't been watching the same contest I have.

  48% of the voters in PA were white women.  They preferred HRC by 30%.  That will always be a very difficult for demographic for Obama no matter what he or she does from here on out.  Clinton can begin the healing.  It's in her court.

  by billysumday on Wed Apr 23, 2008 at 08:18:50 AM PDT

•  I Can't Believe I Am Going To Agree w/

  Joe Scarborough but kept saying something this morning over and over again that I agree with. Obama is in trouble cause he can't close the deal. He is leading in almost every important metric for success yet it can't close it out. This simple fact is starting to worry me on several different levels.

  by webranding on Wed Apr 23, 2008 at 08:19:14 AM PDT

  •  No, no, no.

    Joe's full of it.

    Clinton was the frontrunner.  Her last name is the most powerful brand in Democratic politics, she has a former President stumping for her, loads of institutional support, a national press pushing for this to go the distance, and the GOP working overtime to take down her opponent.

    With all this - she is trailing.

    Setting the standard that Obama is supposed to deliver some kind of knock-out punch in states hand chosen by Clinton because of her strong base of support is fucking absurd.    

    by snout on Wed Apr 23, 2008 at 08:26:38 AM PDT

  •  She can't close it either, she can't come close.

    Remember this, Clinton doesn't give a shit about you. Really, you are just a stepping stone, to be used for her goal.  That's how she treated African Americans, that's how she treated NY, that is how she will treat us.  You are unimportatn to her, even if you do live in a state that does matter.

    by Shhs on Wed Apr 23, 2008 at 08:36:28 AM PDT

•  The problem with a unity ticket

  Hillary Clinton's negatives are still pretty daunting in a general election context, and her presence as a Clinton undercuts Obama's message of change (as well as his contrast with McCain on Iraq).

  I think some form of unity ticket will be needed, but I'd rather see Obama reach out to female voters who dream of seeing a woman in the white house by picking Kathleen Sebelius.  As governor of Kansas she offers executive expeience, the possibility of delivering a red state (her father was governor of Ohio too - so she might help there as well), and she bolsters Obama's message.

  by snout on Wed Apr 23, 2008 at 08:19:44 AM PDT

  •  yes=Clinton name on ballot is deadly plus it woul

    be hard for Obama to have been talking for months about how she represents the old politics but then he picks her as his VP?

    by brueso on Wed Apr 23, 2008 at 09:15:52 AM PDT

•  I'd rather have a brokered convention

  with Al Gore as a compromise than I'd have Clinton anywhere on a ticket.  I'd also not vote for a ticket in the fall with Clinton on it.  Period.  

  by IhateBush on Wed Apr 23, 2008 at 08:23:51 AM PDT

  •  I'd rather have Hagel ( a real Republican)

    than Hillary (a fake Republican).  

    by Shhs on Wed Apr 23, 2008 at 08:37:03 AM PDT

•  No.

  Two send months tearing each other apart.

  Why is it that putting these two people together makes the whole more appealing?

  It doesn't, thats why.

  by thedarkman on Wed Apr 23, 2008 at 08:23:58 AM PDT

•  The use of the term

  "true believers" for Obama supporters is offensive here and shows the attitude that is going to give us a President McCain. If you cannot respect the Obama supporters as you seek support for your own candidate, than you will be the ruination of the Democratic party.

  by ebgill on Wed Apr 23, 2008 at 08:31:37 AM PDT

  •  Only Hillary supporters matter.

    Haven't you figured that out yet?

    by Shhs on Wed Apr 23, 2008 at 08:37:33 AM PDT

  •   Framing from Day 1 the news and the Super D's

    even Kosites have bought into the meme that Obama's voters don't matter as much as Clinton's.  WE have to cater to them and not the other way around.  Clinton is never asked why she can't get certain groups.  Allowances are made for her.  This needs to END.

    by Shhs on Wed Apr 23, 2008 at 08:44:41 AM PDT